Get Involved!

Spring is a great time to remove marine debris from beaches and riverfronts that has washed ashore over the course of winter. Trash along our shorelines is more than just an eyesore; it can have hazardous impacts on fish, wildlife and even local tourism. It’s important to ensure our coastlines are in tip-top shape before birds, turtles and horseshoe crabs begin their nesting and before tourists flock to these areas come summertime.

CFE/Save the Sound offers a variety of opportunities throughout the calendar year to get involved, but spring is one of the more popular times to pitch in at our coastal cleanups and plantings. Something about the growing days of spring triggers the want in people to get outdoors and lend a hand.

We support dozens of coastal cleanup events each spring and many more in the fall for the annual International Coastal Cleanup. The calendar on our website lists all upcoming volunteer opportunities, including a point person for each event to contact for more information or to RSVP. CFE/Save the Sound supplies volunteers with all cleanup tools from garbage bags and gloves to data cards and pencils for recording various trash items washing up on our shorelines. These cleanups are family-friendly ways to breathe in fresh air all the while giving back to Long Island Sound and everything that calls it home.

Volunteers at Long Wharf Nature Preserve in New Haven

Spring is also a perfect time of year for volunteer plantings. Each year, CFE/Save the Sound manages habitat restoration projects around the Long Island Sound region, most of which include native planting components. Already this spring there was a successful planting at the site of a newly constructed fishway along the Wallace Dam on the Quinnipiac River. Over the next month, there will be two more volunteer plantings at ongoing project sites; one on May 19 the Pequonnock River in Trumbull and another, larger planting on June 2 along the West River in New Haven. These plantings are accompanied by celebrations that all are welcome to join to commemorate the projects. These events are great ways for members of the community to get involved and celebrate the restoration of the habitat that is so vital for our fish and wildlife.